That Time I Did a 28-Day European Bus Tour — Part 6 (Pisa and Florence)
This article will cover Days 10–11 of the tour
Here is a link to Part 5 of my story if you haven’t read it:
So we are on Day 10 of the tour. We are now on our way to Italy. Our first stop in Italy is Pisa. Even if you don’t know that much about Italy, I suspect you have heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s basically the only thing to see in Pisa. There’s really nothing else to see.
So we did stop there and we saw the tower (the outside of it at least) and we took pictures of it. I have included a picture of me.
The interesting thing about the tower is that it became known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa because it had started to fall over. They could have fixed it but because it had become a tourist attraction, they figured that they were better off leaving it that way. How long will it stay that way? I have no idea. Probably for a long time.
When we finished taking pictures, we got back on the bus and headed off toward Florence. Once again, I don’t remember much else about the journey, but the scenery was nice.
I remember that we stayed at a “camping village” just outside of Florence. No, weren’t really camping but it was some sort of camping/resort hybrid accommodation. Like, we were in cabins or something but it was some sort of budget resort, with all sorts of facilities. It wasn’t luxurious (none of the accommodation we stayed in was) but it was quite decent if I recall.
I think we stayed there most likely because accommodation in Florence wouldn’t have been cheap. We did the same thing in Rome and Venice (which I will get to later). Accommodation there would not have been cheap either. In each of these places, we had to take some form of public transport into the city.
Here are a few pictures I took during my time in Florence:
Everyone loves to rave about Italian food (and to be fair, Italians do some great food). But what did I actually think of the food in Italy? It was good, however, not all of the food I had in Italy was good. I feel like I could probably get just as good Italian food in Australia as I could in Italy but then maybe that’s just ignorance on my part. I have no Italian heritage so make of that what you will.
But I do know that when in Italy, you do need to know where to go to get the good stuff because there are some places that just serve “overpriced crap for tourists”. The lasagne in the picture was nice though.
Oh yes, and I remember having Florentine steak but I don’t remember thinking that much of it, to be honest. I also remember one of my fellow travellers eating a whole two-pound Florentine steak all to himself. I’m not sure how he managed it (and I’m not small).
What else did we do in Florence? I remember we were taken to a leather shop where some Italian lady showed us how they made their products. I could have bought a leather jacket or something there if I wanted to, but I don’t recall buying anything. I wouldn’t say that Italy was a cheap place to go shopping but you could get some decent stuff there if you wanted it.
I also remember there was a lot of gelato around. I do like gelato. There’s not that much of it around where I live, but it is there. There were certainly coffee places around too but I wasn’t a coffee drinker back then. And of course, if you wanted to go shopping, you could.
Of the three Italian cities we stayed in (or near), Florence was in some ways my favourite, because while it was very touristy, it wasn’t as touristy as Rome or Venice. I liked going to those places but Florence just felt a bit more relaxed. And we were shown the sights and educated about the history of the place.
On the subject of history, I do find history interesting but I don’t feel like I studied enough of it at school. I was educated about Australian history and a little bit about the history of other countries but we didn’t study European history all that much. My knowledge of history is that I know a little bit here and there (in fact, I am like that on a lot of subjects that aren’t “things you need to know”). So I have a vague understanding of European history.
Anyway, that’s basically the long and short of my two nights in Florence. Then on Day 12, we got back on the bus once again and headed off to Rome. And on the way, we drove through the Tuscan countryside and stopped in Orvieto. But I will tell you about that later.
To be continued…
